Swindon schools are to benefit from a £300,000 Government windfall.

The money from the Depart-ment for Education and Employ-ment will help the teaching of English and mathematics in secondary schools.

It will also boost summer schools in town which concentrate on literacy and numeracy.

Education secretary David Blunkett today announced a package of £234,000 to help children in Swindon aged around 14 at keystage three.

The money will be used for training and support programmes to help teachers adopt national literacy and numeracy programmes.

Swindon's results this year at keystage three have improved significantly and the money has been warmly welcomed.

In addition, the borough will get £70,000 for the summer schools, which have proved extremely popular.

Peter Wells, chairman of Swindon Association of Secondary Heads, said: "This is excellent news.

"Most if not all of the secondary schools have been involved in the summer schools, which have proved extremely valuable for children in years six and seven (11 and 12-year-olds) .

"They are targeted on youngsters who need help in making a positive transition from primary to secondary schooling.

"We support them in reading and maths skills, essential skills they need if they are to succeed in life.

"The schools have proved very successful in improving this groups' standards and ability to do well. The money will allow this very good initiative to continue and I welcome it wholeheartedly.

"The summer school rests on the commitment of teachers and support staff who give up their holiday time to work and it is pleasing to see that this commitment is being recognised.

"At keystage three the Government is rightly focusing on the need to build upon work in keystage two (11-year-olds) and secondary schools will be focusing their programmes on this.

"The injection of money will benefit that group through additional resources and possibly extra support teachers."

Last year Swindon keystage 2 results dipped, as did this year's GCSE figures, but the latest results, to be released on December 7, are expected to show a big improvement.